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Magik Markers Practice Space​.​.​. R​.​I​.​P.

by Arbitrary Signs

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Freak Out 14:12
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about

The history of the Magik Markers can be weirdly tied in with the band Fat Worm of Error.. or at least its priniciples.. Chris Cooper and Jess Godard.. 2 individuals who happen to be lifers. They are Veterans of San Francisco's Caroliner and they are I guess what you might imagine the people behind the day glo blacklight to be.. quite strange really. I first became penpals with Chris when I found his address in the back of a Bananafish. I was in the habit of becoming penpals with addresses in the pages of bananfish that belonged to people that seemed psychotically strange and interesting. I did a lot of corresondence with Whangeria res Mykl Witcyst back in the late 90's. When I finally met Cooper he was quite taken aback that my name wasn't really Pete Barnum. Cooper and I along with Chris Corsano had a short lived trio back in 2000 called Creeping Jesus. It was a fucking sick band... sadly we only played one gig. Anyway.. when I moved up to Northampton Ma around that time, I rented a room from Chris and Jess that had a practice space where the Magik Markers recorded our first tape... which I promise will make it to the bandcamp site here as soon as Krefting hooks it up. The house smelled like cat piss. They had a cat named flip that pissed on everything.. including my very nice soft squishy chair that couldn't fit up the back steps to my room. It was pretty commune style. I think I mostly ate ridiculously large slices of pizza back then from this place called Nini's. It was a fun year for me..

A long while later... maybe 5 years or more.. the Markers needed place to practice for tours and stuff.. So Chris and Jess generously provided us the use of their grand practice space behind a garage in Easthampton. A great room where we recorded the split record we did with Sic Alps and a lot of the Funk for Tunk and Squeo rec that's on this site.

When I moved up here to Northampton again from Brooklyn 3 years ago... my wife and I had a jewelry production studio in shabby old rubber factory building in Easthampton. Sometimes I'd sneak away from the sweatshop to the building next door where I'd find Fat Worm practicing in their grimy little practice space. I was so jealous. How cool to be jamming in the middle of the day.. while I was endlessly toiling away to survive. At some point a day was freed up in their space and after 10 years of existence the Markers finally made the leap into legitimate bandhood by moving all our gear into our own practice space. Monday nights were ours!

We'd spend the first hour or more talking shit and telling jokes. Then it would take us a half hour or so of attempting to play songs till we'd finally become unshackled and just sort of let loose for the rest of the night. I tried to tape everything with my miniature 4 track machine.. I only ever brought 1 or 2 mics.. but it did the trick...

What you have hear are some of the fruits of our most recent jams in the practice space. Sadly we vacated this past winter over inability to cover the rent. So it's kind of the end of another era... Anyway.. I should have a few volumes of this stuff to put up. Maybe the Markers will follow Chris and Jess out to L.A. so we can practice again.

credits

released June 10, 2015

Ambrogio
Nolan
Shaw

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Arbitrary Signs Pelham, Massachusetts


Arbitrary Signs is the vanity record label of Pete Nolan of the Magik Markers. Artists: Magik Markers, Spectre Folk, Devin, Gary, and Ross, MV&EE. For links to other Magik Markers see Drag City's Bandcamp. For more Spectre Folk go to the Vampire Blues Bandcamp page. ... more

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